Poll Technica: would you pay extra for FaceTime over 3G?

AT&T might charge extra for the feature. Is it worth shelling out the money?

Do you use FaceTime enough to make it worth shelling out extra money to use it over the cell networks? That's a question FaceTime users may face once iOS 6 ships this fall. At that time, the (currently) WiFi-only service will finally be able to make calls over 3G here in the US, but evidence found within the latest iOS 6 Beta 3 indicates that AT&T plans to charge extra for it.

When trying to activate FaceTime over cellular in the iOS 6 settings, a pop-up appears (hat tip to MacRumors), instructing users to either call AT&T or go to its website in order to enable the feature on their accounts. As noted by MacRumors, it's the same message that pops up when AT&T subscribers try to enable data tethering on their iOS devices—another for-pay service.

AT&T issued a statement in response to the discovery, indicating that it could change its mind between now and final release. "We're working closely with Apple on the new developer build of iOS 6 and we'll share more information with our customers as it becomes available," the company said.

So, it sounds as if AT&T isn't completely sure yet whether it wants to charge for FaceTime over 3G. But it's worth noting that upon testing the same feature on a Verizon iPhone, 9to5Mac and iDownloadBlog found that it did not pop up a similar warning. This indicates AT&T has requested that feature be limited right from the start (with the possibility of changing its mind later), while Verizon has not. (And again, it's worth noting that Verizon doesn't charge extra to data tether a third-generation iPad like AT&T does). Given the potential bandwidth suck associated with video calls (and AT&T's general stance on charging extra for various add-ons), we would not be surprised to see FaceTime indeed become a paid add-on, like tethering or text messaging.

That brings us to our question. In June of 2010, more than a third of you told us that you thought FaceTime (and video calling in general) would be the future, with another third saying you needed to try it first. Are you still using FaceTime as much as you thought you would be? And if so, would you be willing to fork over extra money per month to use it over 3G?

Jacqui Cheng
Jacqui is an Editor at Large at Ars Technica, where she has spent the last eight years writing about Apple culture, gadgets, social networking, privacy, and more. Emailjacqui@arstechnica.com//Twitter@eJacqui